Joe ran as fast as he could toward the science building. He saw people staggering out the door with tears cascading down their faces as they coughed. He scanned the crowd coming out, searching for some sign of his brother, but he wasn’t there.  

Pushing past the people, Joe hurried inside, making his way up to the second floor where he knew Frank’s class was. People were slowly making their way out of the room, some of them even crawling on the floor.  

Stepping into the room, he saw the windows had been broken and the walls were black. A small fire was flickering in a garbage can that was in the middle of the room, filling it with smoke.  

He scanned the room looking for some sign of his brother, but couldn’t see anything. Stepping back into the hall, he spotted a fire extinguisher. Quickly grabbing it, he returned to the room and emptied it into the can, extinguishing the flames.  

Once the fire was out, he carefully made his way around the tables to get a better look at the room. His foot hit something and he almost fell, but caught himself on a corner of a table. Peering down to see what he had hit, he gasped when he saw his brother unconscious on the floor.  

“Frank!” Joe exclaimed, crouching down beside him.  

He touched his brother’s neck and was relieved to find a pulse.  

“Ohh,” Frank groaned, moving his head slightly.  

“Come on, Frank. Open your eyes.”  

“Joe?” Frank murmured.  

“I’m here, Frank. Are you all right?”  

“My head hurts.” Frank tried to open his eyes, but kept them tightly shut.  

“Do you hurt anywhere else?”  

“No,” Frank said. He tried to open his eyes again, and this time succeeded.  

“Do you think you can make it out of here?”  

“I think so.”  

“All right. I’ll help you anyway.”  

Joe moved closer to Frank and helped him to a sitting position. He waited for a moment when he saw Frank trying to fight a dizzy spell. Frank finally lifted his head after a moment.  

“Help me up.”  

Joe put his hands under Frank’s arms and lifted his brother to his feet. Once Frank was upright, Joe took Frank’s arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. Together they slowly made their way toward the door.  

Entering the hall, they saw several firefighters coming in their direction.  

“It’s the room on the right,” Joe said.  

“You should exit the building,” one firefighter said.  

“That’s what we’re doing,” Joe said.  

They slowly started down the stairs taking each flight slowly for Frank. When they reached the ground floor, they made their way outside. In the distance, Joe could see a crowd had gathered behind the fire trucks. Frank and Joe made their way over to one of the trucks. Joe helped Frank sit down on the back of one of them.  

Once seated, Frank leaned forward and buried his head in his hands.  

“Frank, what happened in there? The explosion was felt across the campus.”  

“Look who we have here,” a voice said before Frank could respond.  

Joe turned his head and saw Bayport Police Chief Ezra Collig coming toward them.  

“Hi, Chief,” Joe said.  

“Joe. Frank.” Chief Collig nodded toward the building. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”  

Frank lifted his head and looked at the Chief. He took a breath and explained how they were working on their projects and then there was the explosion.  

“Did you see anything?” Chief Collig asked.  

“I honestly didn’t,” Frank said. “I hadn’t gotten too far on my project when all this happened.”  

“All right,” Chief Collig said. “I suggest you head to the hospital and get checked over. Whatever happened could have nasty side effects.”  

“We’ll do that,” Joe said, not allowing Frank to argue.  

Chief Collig nodded and headed into the building.  

A voice suddenly came over the campus loud speaker. “Attention students, faculty and staff. All classes for the remainder of the day have been canceled as well as sports practices. Everyone should leave the campus as soon as possible.”  

Joe let out a sigh of disappointment. He had wanted to practice with the rest of the team. But now it would have to wait.  

“Come on, Frank. Let’s get out of here.”  

“All right.”  

Joe helped his brother to his feet and they slowly made their way through the dispersing crowd. He stayed beside his brother, anticipating a faltering step.  

They were only halfway through the quad when they saw Vanessa and Caren hurrying toward them. Both were out of breath.  

“Frank, what’s happened?” Caren asked. “You’re awfully pale.”  

“I’m all right,” Frank said.  

“He may be all right, but he’s still taking at trip to the hospital,” Joe said. “Why don’t you two come along and we’ll explain what happened?”  

“All right,” Vanessa said.  

 

That evening, the four young adults gathered in the Hardy home. Frank had spent several hours in the emergency room undergoing numerous tests only to confirm that he was all right, but he should take it easy.  

Upon arriving at the Hardy home, Frank had taken a shower and changed his clothes. He returned to the living room to see the others were already seated. He sank down on the couch beside Caren.  

“You look like you’re feeling better,” Caren said.  

“I feel fine. But I could have lived without all those tests.”  

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Joe said.  

“I know,” Frank said.  

“So, fill us in on what happened,” Vanessa said.  

“Well, the professor had us broken down into several groups working on our final projects,” Frank said. “We all were pretty focused. Suddenly, someone asked if anyone else smelled smoke. Then there was the explosion. I don’t remember anything else until you were calling my name Joe.”  

“There was a small fire in the garbage can when I entered the room,” Joe said. “But that was it.”  

“Do you think it was just bad timing?” Caren asked.  

“I don’t think so,” Frank said. “That explosion rocked the room and there was a lot of damage. I have a feeling it was aimed at one person in particular.” Frank caught Joe’s gaze and knew his brother got his meaning.  

“Who? You?” Caren asked.  

“Probably not,” Joe said quickly.  

Frank saw Caren eye Joe, and then turn her gaze on him. He looked at her in return. Her gaze was piercing for some reason and he tried not to squirm. A minute passed by, but Caren did not look away.  

“Frank, I have gotten to know you really well over the past four years and I do know when you are keeping something from me. And I know that is now.”  

“Caren, I’m not keeping anything from you. And if I thought there was something important you had to know, I would tell you.”  

“Yeah, right,” Caren said sarcastically. She quickly got to her feet. She glared at him. “If and when you can be honest with me, give me a call.” Caren turned and left the house.  

Frank got to his feet and hurried after her. “Caren, wait.”  

“Why should I?” Caren snapped, spinning around to face him. “I thought we were honest with one another, but I guess I was wrong.”  

“I am being honest with you!”  

“Bull!” Caren climbed into her car and drove off.  

Frank watched her drive off. Part of him knew he was being honest with her. If he thought the incidents would be of harm to her, he would tell her. Bu they weren’t. She was nowhere around when the incidents happened and didn’t see a reason to make her worry about nothing. Another part of him said to go after her and maker her worry.  

I’m not going after her, he thought. If she can’t trust me when I tell her its not important, then I’m not going to be guilted into telling her. I thought our relationship was strong. But I guess I was wrong. I guess I no longer have to worry about what will happen after graduation. Caren made that decision.  

Frank made his way inside and headed right up to his room without a word to Joe or Vanessa.

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.